1804 - Lieutenant Charles Menzies, commander at the Hunters River, praised Bungaree’s skill as an intermediary. ‘I have directed the Storekeeper to victual Boungaree. He is the most intelligent of that race I have as yet Seen,’ he tells King, ‘and Should a misunderstanding unfortunately take place he will be Sure to reconcile them’

1804 - Two Aboriginal people, Nabbin and Major White, were reported killed at Richmond Hill. They were believed to have murdered Thomas Hodgkinson and John Wimbow late in 1799.
Magistrates Samuel Marsden and Thomas Arndell give food and clothing to two Richmond Hill chiefs, Yaragowhy and Yaramandy [Yarramundi], and ask them to help put an end to the ‘mischiefs’

1819 - Licenses were issued to bond and free to cut cedar at Illawarra.

1824 - Lachlan Macquarie, five weeks after his piddly £1,000 a year pension was granted, died alone in his London lodgings.

1841 – The convict assignment system was abolished in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land and was replaced by the probation gang system.

1846 - The Cooking pot uprising occurred; this was a convict mutiny led by William Westwood (a "gentleman bushranger" with the nickname 'Jackey Jackey' from the aboriginal people) on the penal colony of Norfolk Island. The Mutiny occurred over the persistent abuse, strict orders and harsher penalties giving by Major Joseph Childs who was in command of the colony after his predecessor Alexander Maconochie who was seen as a kind figure and gave the prisoners more freedom.
The straw that broke the camels proverbial was the proclamation that food was to be served in bulk, that no personal cooking was to be permitted, and that kettles and saucepans held by prisoners were to be handed in.
Four soldiers were killed with several more injured, while several convicts were wounded it resulted in 17 convicts being executed.

1851 - Big things happened - writs were issued for the elections for the Legislative Council of Victoria, Port Phillip Colony changed it's name by deed poll to Independent Colony of Victoria and a public holiday was declared. Finally the Gum Suckers were autonomous...almost.

1853 - Thomas Bath opened the Ballaarat (not a typo) Hotel (now known as Craig's Hotel).

1863 - The Main South Railway Line (NSW) was opened from North Menangle - Picton.

1864 - The Ballarat College was founded.

1864 - Melbourne and Essendon Railway Co. (Vic) closed their 4 year old line.
The Melbourne to Essendon line opened from Spencer Street to Essendon, in October 1860. One unreliable engine and two carriages conducted an intermittent service between the five stations along the line until its premature closure in July 1864. Regular passenger service resumed under government ownership in 1871.

1866 - Umpires were used for the first time in Aussie Rules Football. But we shall not call them nasty names like blind bastards...or white maggots...no, we shall not.

1867 - The General Post Office in Elizabeth St, Melbourne - yes, kiddies, it was an actual post office before it became a fashion mecca - was officially opened.

1870 - The Main Western Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Wallerawang - Rydal.

1871 - Missionaries of the London Missionary Society arrived in the Torres Strait at Erub Island, introducing Christianity to the region. The Coming of the Light festival marks this important day for Torres Strait Islanders, who are mainly of Christian faith. They celebrate the day with cultural and religious activities.

1872 - The Main Western Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Locksley - Brewongle.

1873 - Julius Krauss (also called William Cross) was hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol for the murder of Captain John Longmuir on board HMS Rifleman.

1878 - The Government purchase of Melbourne & Hobson's Bay United Railway Co. (Vic) was authorised.

1881 - Henry Byron Moore had founded the Melbourne Electric Light Co., and lit up the Eastern Market in a memorable night for Melbourne on this day.

1882 - The Serviceton Railway Line aka the western Railway Line (Vic) was opened from Horsham to Dimboola.

1887 - The infamous Melbourne Customs Dept detective, Inspector John Mitchell Christie was promoted to revenue detective.
And the smugglers were rooted.

1892 - The Cobar Railway Branch Line (NSW) was opened from Nyngan Junction - Cobar.

1895 - Arthur Buck was hanged at Melbourne Gaol for the murder of Catherine Norton at South Melbourne.

1901 - Arthur Wadsworth was appointed the Victorian Parliamentary Librarian; remaining with the Library during the Commonwealth occupation of Parliament House he also became the Commonwealth Parliamentary Librarian and de facto the first Australian National Librarian.

1903 - Ornithologist Thomas Carter, on good terms with the Talandji tribe in the Pilbara region, recorded their bird names in 'Birds Occurring in the Region of the North-West Cape', published in the Emu on this day.

1909 - The Robinvale Railway Line (Vic) was opened from Ultima to Chillingollah.

1913 - Charles Spargo was hanged at Fremantle Prison for the murder of Gilbert Pickering Jones at Broom.

1919 - The North Coast Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Kempsey - Macksville.

1932 – The Australian Broadcasting Commission was inaugurated by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.

1934 - The State Electricity Commission (who remembers ye olde SEC? No one? Ok, I'm old) took over the Liverpool, England-based Electricty Supply Company of Victoria holdings which included private power companies and the tramways in both Bendigo and Ballarat.

1942 - 200 Australian civilian prisoners of war died when the Japanese transport, the Montevideo Maru, on a journey from Rabaul to Hainan Island, was torpedoed by an American submarine off Luzon in the South China Sea.

1946 - The Main North Railway Line (NSW) was opened from Jct (Start Hawkesbury Bridge deviation) - Jct (End Hawkesbury Bridge deviation).

1947 - Rockhampton City Council took over the Rockhampton School of Arts.

1947 - At 7 pm, the first ABC news broadcast under amendments to the Broadcasting Act was aired. The changes aimed at removing bias by requiring all news to be produced by ABC journalists, rather than gathered from commercial sources.

1999 - Two seats in the Australian Senate were occupied by openly gay politicians – Bob Brown and Brian Greig.

2000 - The GST (Goods and Services Tax) we were never, ever, ever going to have was introduced for most goods and services. Sadly not many of them are very good or very serviceable.

2004 - The new governmental changes regarding the “whole-of-government” approach to Indigenous affairs at a Federal level began being implemented. Under these arrangements, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) were abolished and responsibility for Indigenous specific programs transferred to mainstream government departments and agencies.

2006 - Funding for Migrant Resource Centres and the Community Settlement Services Scheme (CSSS) was replaced by the Settlement Grants Program (SGP). Under the SGP, community organisations can apply for funding for projects to assist new migrants and refugees to settle in Australia.

2007 - The Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act came into effect, aiming to strengthen governance and management of Aboriginal corporations with consistent practices and standards.

2008 - The Convention Centre was opened in the Waterfront Precinct of Darwin.

2012 - Australia introduced a controversial carbon tax in a bid to tackle climate change, with PM Julia Gillard hailing the move amid opposition warnings it will stifle industry. A mining levy was also introduced.

2014 - Asylum seekers who registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Indonesia after this date will no longer be able to be resettled under Australia’s humanitarian program.

2015 - The Migration Review Tribunal (MRT), Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) and Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) merged with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). The amalgamated AAT is responsible for the independent review of a wide range of decisions made by the Australian Government, including the Department of Immigration.

2015 - The Australian Border Force Act took effect on 1 July 2015. The Secrecy and Disclosure provisions of the Act makes it a crime punishable by two years’ imprisonment for an “entrusted person” to make record of or disclose protected information. According to the Act, the “entrusted person” could be an Immigration and Border Protection worker, including people engaged or employed by the Department of Immigration. This can include medical professionals, educators and others contracted by the Australian Government to perform services on behalf of the Department.

2017 - The NSW Government’s landmark Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme was open to survivors from today.

1 comment:

I do remember the Franklin Dam ban.the first ABC news broadcast under amendments to the Broadcasting Act was aired. The changes aimed at removing bias by requiring all news to be produced by ABC journalists, rather than gathered from commercial sources. Now that has changed. Sadly.